Day 7: Guayaquil Thankfully this morning I felt much better than the night before. After breakfast we took a short boat and bus ride back to Baltra Island and arrived at the airport around 9:30am. While we were waiting for our flight, few of the girls and I decided to do a little gift shopping for our friends and family. Once we finished shopping, everyone grabbed lunch. Unfortunately, our flight was delayed for a few hours, giving us more down time at the airport. Finally around 2pm we boarded the flight and arrived in Guayaquil around 4:30pm. By time we arrived at the hotel and checked in, it was already dinner time. The group followed Diego through a short tour of the city to locate a restaurant to eat at. While most of the group decided on eating at one restaurant, four of us girls decided to eat at Wendy’s. When we walked there, it was closed so they ate at KFC instead. I decided to skip a heavy dinner because I was still not feeling completely better. When everyone else finished their dinners, Diego walked myself and a few others to the super market to buy snacks. When we returned to the hotel, we prepared for two presentations.
Boarding our flight for Guayaquil
The first presentation was about shrimp farms and mangrove forests by Ms. Natalia. The connection between mangrove forests and shrimp farms occur due to shrimp farms occupying 27% of the mangrove forests. She informed the class that mangroves make up about 70% of the coast. Mangroves forests provide several environmental services such as carbon capturing, acting as buffer zones and avoiding floods (NOAA). Of the percentage of forests 30% has been deforested which has greatly affected the environment. In order to protect the mangroves, and in turn the farms, park services created laws to protect them. If a person was caught deforesting mangroves, they were to be fined $89,273.00 and served jail time for three years. Today, many organizations have been planting mangroves to increase the population. According to Natalia, it is believed that the 30% of deforest mangroves worldwide will be restored between 2021 and 2030.
Mangroves (Seen more clearly on the right)
If there is a decline in forests, there would be a decline in farms. The beginning of shrimp farming began in the oceans, however, fishermen would catch many unwanted marine life which eventually impacted the marine ecosystem. This caused the need for the development of shrimp factories. In 1998, Ecuador had 2006 shrimp farms, 312 labs, 76 processing plants, 22 factories, and 21 feed mills. In 1999, the white spot virus invaded the farms and caused the decline of the shrimp population and unemployment of many workers. An average of 60% of the raised shrimp are exported to the Americas. Just as mangroves have provided many environmental services, shrimp farms have provided many economic services and benefits to Ecuador and the world.
Shrimp Farm located in Ecuador (Photo found on google)
The second presentation was on Ecuador’s economy, presented by Valentina and Ryan. To begin their presentation, they informed the class that Ecuador’s economy focused primarily on the agricultural industry before the big shift in petroleum during the 1960’s. According to Valentina and Ryan, Ecuador is the 69th largest export economy and the 102nd most complex economy in the world. By 2021, mining exports are expected to doubly increase due to the exploitation of of gold reserves. Ecuador has plans to allow international companies to mine for metals, such as gold, copper and silver, in Ecuador. In order to improve their economy, Ecuador became trade partners with the United States. The U.S. exports $6 billion and imports $7 billion worth of goods. This trade partnership has allowed the United States to become one of the top importers and exporters with Ecuador. The top 5 most exported goods including petroleum (63%), bananas (14%), crustaceans (10%), processed fish (19%) and cut flowers (42%). Although there are many items that Ecuador exports, there are few items they must import from other countries as well. These items include vehicles (71%), medicine and renewable energy technologies (i.e. wind turbines). Apart from Ecuador’s importing and exporting economy, the country has also relied on sustainable tourism to support the economy. The ministry of tourism has invested millions of dollars in advertisement, mainly for the Galápagos Islands. In addition, the country has improved the financial stability of the locals by guaranteeing they have a stable work environment and proper training. For example, it is forbidden for non-residents of the Galápagos Islands to be tour guides on the islands. Only a properly trained resident is allowed to act as the guide. This guarantees the locals will have a stable income of pay.